the wealthy see charity and taxes two sides of the same coin. taxes go up, charity must go down. press secretary for george bush summed it up in a recent tweet saying, quote, i and many others will likely donate less in 2013. but a new study from the nonpartisan tech center says charitable giving may actually increase this year by $3.3 billion. tax hikes are actually the main reason why. here's how it works. taxpayers deduct their charity at their marginal tax rate. last year the wealthy could deduct 35 cents for every dollar they gave. the current rate is 39.6%. so they can deduct 39.6 cents for every dollar they give. their cost of giving has, in other words, fallen by 7% for those making $400,000 or more per year. the same is true if you're giving away stock or real estate that's appreciated in value. the higher capital gains rate making giving more economically attractive. the cliff deal does limit certain deductions. but the benefits of these higher tax rates more than makes up that limit on deductions. so net-net, the wealthy get a bigger tax cut this year for giving. it's